I've been reading a lot about the value of experimentation lately, well, in many ways, i've always known the value of experimentation but i've sort of just paid lip service to it and not really taken a committed, disciplined and proactive approach to experimenting, i've decided to change this, starting yesterday. This has been true In my personal life and in other ventures i'm involved in, for many reasons, but mainly because I haven't quite been able to properly deal with the fear of failing so I often revert to doing nothing (more on that later)
When I talk about experimentation, I'm talking about the simple process of identifying possible areas of improvement or just areas of curiousity, stating my hypothesis and then taking action to validate or invalidate it. Say for example, you notice that you have really low energy levels, a simple experiment to run could be to switch to eliminate Gluten from your diet for two weeks, see how it goes and then make a decision.
A simple layout for your experiments is as follows:
I Believe ... (State your hypothesis here eg 'that cutting out Gluten for 2 weeks will improve my energy levels)
To Verify this I will... (Here you'll put down what you'll do eg 'Cut out gluten from all meals for 2 weeks)
And Measure...(here you'll put down how you'll track your experiments, the data can be quantitative or qualitative eg 'my energy levels out of 5, twice a day in my journal)
I am right if... (here you'll set your benchmark for success, if this benchmark is met then you've validated the original belief eg 'after 2 weeks, my energy levels are above 5, on average)
After reading this article https://medium.com/the-mission/forget-about-the-10-000-hour-rule-7b7a39343523 by Michael Simmons, where he outlines the value of experimentation saying 'Deliberate experimentation is more important than deliberate practice in a rapidly changing world.' I decided to challenge myself to run 100 experiments, in my personal life and all the other spaces i'm involved in, this includes entrepreneurial ventures as well as any other workspaces!
I'm doing this to challenge myself and also learn as fast as possible while also putting myself at risk of failure, many times. I'm looking forward to seeing the growth and insights i'll have gained over the coming year.
Although I was tempted to start in 2018, I started 2 days ago, on the 20th of November, a rather awkward date but I figured, why wait? Might as well start now. I'm also opening this challenge to anyone else reading this, start now and run 100 experiments in 12 months, then reflect on any new insights, personal progress and ideas you've gained in the process! If you're joining me, please leave a comment below.
Happy experimenting :)
Thabo
I'll keep a blog detailing all my experiments and learnings on Steemit, starting with the Two I did in the past week.